Use of imaging sensors in vehicle imaging systems is common and known. Examples of such known systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,331; 5,670,935 and/or 5,550,677, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Obscuring view by mud, salt or dust is becoming an increasing issue for vehicle cameras as their ability to determine and recognize objects can be limited or interrupted. Vehicle manufacturers have recently started to add washer nozzles mounted at the vehicle in close proximity to the camera lens. These washer nozzles spray a high pressure stream of water onto the lens when activated, thus cleaning the lens within a short amount of time. Typically, the camera washer is integrated into the existing windshield washer system and is activated through the same pump.
For some unique applications, a lens heating function may be included within some cameras to defog the elements when needed. This function is typically very expensive and it is difficult to assemble the heating element inside of the camera. Such a heating function typically requires an entirely different camera design that is larger and must have additional connection circuits. The production assembly processes would be unique, more manually intensive and costly.